Having a good night's sleep can make vaccines more effective, a study has
suggested.

Sleeping more than seven hours a night may help the body react more efficiently to vaccinations while a lack of sleep may leave patients unprotected, it was found.

Some volunteers receiving a hepatitis B vaccine who slept for fewer than six hours a night showed no response to the jab and were left unprotected against the virus.

The findings were published in the journal Sleep.

The study involved 125 people who were administered the standard three-dose hepatitis B vaccine; the first and second dose were administered a month apart, followed by a booster dose at six months.

Their antibody levels were measured prior to the second and third vaccine injection and six months after the final vaccination to determine whether participants had mounted a "clinically protective response."

The researchers found that people who slept fewer than six hours on average per night were 11.5 times more likely to be unprotected after the vaccine than those who slept for seven hours or more on average.

Lead author Dr Aric Prather, a clinical health psychologist at University of California San Francisco, said: "With the emergence of our 24-hour lifestyle, longer working hours, and the rise in the use of technology, chronic sleep deprivation has become a way of life for many.

"These findings should help raise awareness in the public health community about the clear connection between sleep and health."

He added: "While there is more work to be done in this area, in time physicians and other health care professionals who administer vaccines may want to consider asking their patients about their sleep patterns, since lack of sleep may significantly affect the potency of the vaccination."